MORE than 150 passengers have been taken ill on-board a cruise ship, with reports of people vomiting in the ship’s pools, that docked in Sydney.

The Diamond Princess, one of the flagships of the Princess Cruises fleet, tied up at the overseas passenger terminal in Sydney’s Circular Quay at 7am this morning following a 12-day voyage to New Zealand.

The South Eastern Sydney local health district said they were notified by Princess Cruises of a norovirus gastroenteritis outbreak on the liner. Typical symptoms of the virus include abdominal cramps, diarrhoea and vomiting.

Director of the district’s Public Health Unit, Professor Mark Ferson, said 158 of the 4000 passengers and a number of crew presented at the ship’s medical clinic during the cruise with gastroenteritis. He said the outbreak was under control.

“There have been no medical disembarkations or patients requiring hospitalisation. The ship has instituted maximum control measures, including increased sanitation and further cleaning and hygiene procedures will occur prior to passengers arriving on board this afternoon.”

Prof Ferson said incoming passengers would be advised of the outbreak when they boarded the ship and about recommended hygiene measures. The ship is due to depart this afternoon for a 12-day trip to New Zealand stopping at Auckland and Wellington.

“You would be [in] the elevator and I would be hitting the button with my knuckle and other people would be running down the corridor holding their mouths ... a lot of the staff would be wearing face masks, gloves,” Mr Dinale said.

A spokeswoman for Princess Cruises, which is part of US-based cruising giant Carnival which also owns Carnival Cruises Australia, P&O and Cunard, confirmed the outbreak and said ill guests were confined to their rooms to minimise the virus’ spread.

“We proactively initiated an extensive sanitation campaign on-board that was developed in conjunction with several international health authorities. This included thorough disinfection of railings, door handles and elevator buttons; encouraging passengers to use correct hand washing procedures and enhancing this with the use of hand sanitising gels placed throughout the ship; isolating ill guests in staterooms until they are non-contagious; encouraging guests to use their own stateroom’s bathroom facilities; and providing regular verbal and written communication about steps they can take to stay well while on-board,” the spokeswoman said.

NOT THE FIRST TIME

There have been multiple cases of gastro outbreaks on board cruise ships with several of the liners belonging to the Carnival group.

Passengers on the P&O cruise ship Pacific Eden labelled it a “floating disaster” after about 50 of the 1500 people on board were taken ill with norovirus in December.

A total of 182 passengers out of the 3566 on board the luxury Royal Caribbean cruise ship Explorer of the Seas were also struck down by a stomach bug in the same month.

A passenger who disembarked told the Today Show: “Every time you walked in and out of the corridors there were medics going in and out of all the rooms. Just about everybody was sick.”

In October, more than 170 passengers were sick with a stomach bug during an eight-day cruise from Sydney on Royal Caribbean’s Radiance of the Seas.

In December 2014, 200 passengers were confined to their cabins aboard Princess Cruises’ Dawn Princess after it left Melbourne bound for New Zealand’s South Island.

While in September of that year, another 100 passengers were struck down by the virus aboard Princess Cruises’ Sea Princess travelling from Singapore to Fremantle.

A passenger named Steve told the ABC he was forced to remain inside his cabin until he recovered.

“I was crook on the third day, I had stomach cramps, and I was confined to my cabin for a couple of days, couldn’t leave my cabin, but I got special food and they released me after two days,” he said.

“The doctor came to my room and he gave me the tablets, and I was fine after 48 hours. They contained (the virus) two or three days after that.”